How to check if eggs are fertile / developing?

[Naiku]

We have had a pair of broody hens for a few weeks now, had one chick hatch out of about a dozen eggs (The hen was being a great mother, leading the chick around, it was eating well etc. sadly though the chick died after about a week, not sure what happened, but we had heavy rain overnight so am guessing it was something to do with that).

Now, the hen that had the chick is not sitting on any eggs, but we have another that is sitting on them. Some of these eggs have been there long enough that I believe they should have hatched at this point. Others, I am not so sure about. I had tried shining a flashlight through some of the eggs a while back when there was only 3, but could not see anything. The hen that sits on them does not budge but does get off the eggs for a while each day.

If I time it right when the hen is not sitting on the eggs, will it be OK if I remove them for about 15 minutes? By the time I collect them all, get them back to the house and try to inspect them it will be a good few minutes.

Any tips on being able to actually see anything though? The ones I looked at before I could just see a blob. Assuming that was the yolk, but again not sure. I have a pretty bright flashlight and a dark room, but I want to be certain on the eggs before putting them back so I can remove the ones that are no good. Hopefully, it won't be all of them.

Thanks.

 

[tacothechicken]

Yes hens generally leave the nest for a few minutes to eat drink bath in the early days so that should be fine, tip: Mark eggs whith a pencil pen etc so you know date or if any new ones have been added and which. Explaining candling is kinda a pain but you can look up candling embryo development online for pics of what you should see (developing chicks should be a dark blob not light or bright once past the spidering point but an actually shadow like looking through a curtain almost)

 

[C3 mommy]

Did you figure it out?